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Net revenues at Goldman Sachs Asset Management rose 11% to $1.06bn (â¬797m) in the three months to the end of May compared to the same period a year before, but performance fees plunged by 81% to $20m.

Performance fees fell from the $104m notched up in the second quarter of last year, but the drop was partly offset by a 22% jump in management and other fees.

GSAM's performance fees are understood to come predominantly from the hedge fund business, although a lot of traditional mandates have performance fees attached.

Goldman did not explain this drop, but Global Alpha, its $10bn flagship hedge fund, fell 3.4% in the first four months of this year, according to a Bloomberg report in May, which cited a letter sent to investors. The hedge fund lost 11.6% last year.

GSAM's second-quarter revenues, which exclude income from securities services, outstripped revenues for the entire underwriting business within Goldman Sachs' investment banking division, which notched up $1.01bn.

Assets under management rose by 5% to $758bn when compared to the previous quarter, up from $719bn at the end of February. Goldman Sachs said this reflected inflows of $14bn in equity and fixed income assets, money market net asset inflows of $4bn and market appreciation of $21bn, primarily in equity assets.